BRIDGE Electoral Dispute Resolution Workshop, Lahore

A three-day training workshop was designed and customised to suit the Pakistan context and several examples and case studies of other countries were presented in order to provide the participants with a broader global perspective outlining the countries where the systems are successful and where the challenges are encountered while also discussing possible opportunities. The participants were taken through an intensive programme 

Relevant activities were carefully selected from the Electoral Dispute Resolution Module, however since this was a special programme with specific goals, the curriculum needed to suit the Pakistan context and was therefore extensively customised to meet the set objectives and to address and mitigate the challenges discussed at the round table and also give the participants a sense of comfort and understanding of their duties and responsibilities in implementing EDR strategies.

Two Major sources of information were used throughout the workshop 1) Guidelines for understanding, Adjudicating, and Resolving Disputes in Elections (GUARDE) 2) The content of the Facilitator’s handbook developed by Peter Lepsch, EDR Expert.

Access, Gender, Integrity and Conflict management were emphasised as cross-cutting themes throughout the programme and these principles are crucial when carrying out the process of resolving disputes. Over and above explaining the Seven Key Principles, the guiding principles that describe characteristics of the EMB were presented and the meaning explained to the participants.